Ohio State women hold off California

BERKELEY, Calif.
(AP)
–
Samantha Prahalis had 18 points and six assists and No. 14 Ohio State held off California 77-75 on Saturday to remain unbeaten and give coach Jim Foster his 750th career victory.

By Greg Bartram, US Presswire

Aleksandra Dobranic and Ohio State remained undefeated with a 77-75 win over California on Saturday.

Aleksandra Dobranic and Ohio State remained undefeated with a 77-75 win over California on Saturday.

Sponsored Links

Tayler Hill and Ashley Adams added 15 points apiece for the Buckeyes (10-0), who led by 14 with 5:20 left before the Golden Bears rallied in the final minutes.

Cal missed a chance to force overtime when Gennifer Brandon's layup with 5 seconds remaining fell short. Reshanda Gray grabbed the rebound but missed and also failed on a putback attempt before Afure Jemerigbe's final try was off as the buzzer sounded.

Brandon finished with 24 points and a career-high 24 rebounds for the Bears (8-3), who were 20 of 38 from the free throw line.

The Buckeyes had won their previous two games by an average of 38.5 points before being pushed to the brink by Cal in the first meeting between the teams since 2009.

Prahalis, Ohio State's career assists leader, had nine points in the second half, including a soft jumper that gave the Buckeyes a 72-58 lead with less than 5½ minutes left. She finished 7 of 13 from the floor and had eight rebounds before fouling out in the final minute.

USA TODAY Sports on Twitter!

To get the latest sports news from USA TODAY, including game results, columns and features, follow us on Twitter at @USATODAYSports.

Cal, which had trouble with the Buckeyes' quick transition game all afternoon, made it close at the end despite its troubles on defense and at the free throw line. During a 40-second stretch in the second half, the Bears were fouled four times but made just two of eight free throws.

It turned out to be the difference in the game for the Bears, who had their five-game winning streak snapped. All three of Cal's losses this season have been against ranked teams.

Ohio State, on the other hand, kept rolling and matched the school's best start. The 2000-01 team also started 10-0.

Foster, in his 10th season with the Buckeyes, became the ninth Division I women's coach to reach the 750-win plateau. There was no on-court celebration and the veteran coach quietly retreated to his team's locker room after the game, no doubt relieved after the narrow win in Ohio State's first road game of the season.

Brandon nearly helped Cal pull off the comeback.

She scored on a driving layup through traffic to start an 8-0 run, then later made a three-point play with 42.1 seconds left to pull the Bears within 77-75.

Hill rushed a shot and was blocked by Gray with 23 seconds remaining. Brandon grabbed the rebound and Cal was able to get the ball down low for a quartet of shots in the final 5 seconds but failed to score.

This was Ohio State's first trip to Haas Pavilion since 2009 when the Buckeyes lost to Stanford in the Berkeley Regional of the NCAA tournament. They are 4-0 against the Bears.

Prahalis had 11 points in the first half while Hill added nine to give Ohio State a 45-40 lead at the break. It was the first time Cal trailed at the half this season.

Talia Caldwell finished with 13 points and six rebounds while Jemerigbe had 11 points for the Bears.

No. 4 Stanford 85, Princeton 66

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Nnemkadi Ogwumike showed what a perimeter threat she has become in a matter of months, knocking down long jumpers all game on the way to 22 points and 12 rebounds for No. 4 Stanford in a hard-fought 85-66 victory over Princeton on Saturday.

Her little sister, Chiney, added 21 points on 10-of-11 shooting and nine rebounds as the Cardinal (7-1) extended their school-record home winning streak at Maples Pavilion to 67 games with a big second half. Stanford returned from its annual two-week break for final exams and received a tough test in a tuneup for Tuesday night's sold-out showdown with sixth-ranked Tennessee.

Lauren Edwards scored 16 points for scrappy Princeton (7-4), which played a ranked opponent for the third time in its last five games but has still never beaten a ranked team.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

Posted | Updated

USA TODAY is now using Facebook Comments on our stories and blog posts to provide an enhanced user experience. To post a comment, log into Facebook and then "Add" your comment. To report spam or abuse, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box. To find out more, read the FAQ and Conversation Guidelines.